Our Round-the-World adventure

[tacototheworld]

LATVIA
We said goodbye to Estonia, with hopes of returning (never enough time), and made our way to Latvia. First stop, the village of Cēsis and a castle, of course.

Cēsis town square, Latvia

Cēsis Castle

Keeping it atmospheric, we were given a candle lantern to explore the inside of the castle

Cēsis Castle was fantastic - for us, it struck the right balance of ruins and reconstruction. You could feel its age, get a sense of its true bones and yet there was enough reconstruction to explore what the castle really felt like.

First Latvian camping spot - Gauja National Park on the Gauja River

Rumšiškės - Āraiši archeological park with reconstructed island fortress

Next, more history lessons. Everyday we learn more about how little we have known about the world we live in. We visited the Āraiši archeological park in Rumšiškės to see a recontructed island fortress and recontructed bronze age homes.

Then onwards to Sigulda for, once again, castles. We opted to park at the train station and walk what we thought was a 7 km loop encompassing three castles and a cave. As it turned out, the mileage was one way so we ended up walking 13 km on roads, up and down steps and through construction zones. In the end we were very tired and likely did not appreciate the sites as much as we could have. Some days are like that.

Gūtmaņa Cave, largest erosion cave in the Baltics. It was a nice Sunday so we were not alone. Interesting inscriptions everywhere.

Rebuilt medieval castle in Sigulda. Not our favorite castle, but we were tired and over stimulated with people and sites

After getting refreshed and replenished in the woods we were ready to hit another big city - Riga. We put truck life on hold and booked into a room in an old convent in the old town. $40 US per night and we had an apartment with a mini-fridge so that we could transfer groceries and complete a needed defrost of the camper fridge.
A quick COVID note, in Estonia there were no restriction or requests to see our proof of vaccination. In Latvia, we were asked to show proof of vaccination to enter a building - store or restaurant. We have been able to show pictures of our cardboard US vaccination cards most places. We have also downloaded the CLEAR app and have a QR code. However, the QR code does not work in Europe. So far the only thing we have been prevented from doing was going to see the new James Bond movie on Andy’s birthday. They were only accepting Latvian QR codes. Oh well, safety first.

Freedom Monument in Riga, symbolizing Latvia’s hard won independence

Once again we joined the free walking tours, spending many hours with Kaspars, a native Latvian who taught us with humor and grace.

Riga’s Art Nouveau, highest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture of anywhere in the world

Old town Riga

House of Blackheads, Riga

Kaspars took us by the iconic House of the Blackheads in Riga but also pointed out that despite the language on the buildings stating they were renovated in the 1990’s, they were actually completely rebuilt. So not old, but a replica of what was.

More stunning architecture

Replenished with food, water, propane, gas and freshly showered, we left Riga for our final two spots in Latvia.

Bauska Castle, partially recontructed and partly in ruins

Rundāle Palace, built by German dukes in the 1700’s. We walked around the outside gardens to stretch our legs but opted out of the paid entrance fee.

 

[tacototheworld]

LITHUANIA

With a sense of panic as the countdown on our 90 days in Schengen countries marched steadily down, we left Latvia and entered Lithuania. Our first stop was the Hill of Crosses where people began memorializing those lost during a string of oppressive occupations. Despite being mowed down twice by the Soviets during their occupation, the crosses kept returning.

Hill of Crosses - a testament to human faith and hope

Our first Lithuanian castle - Kaunas Castle, completely rebuilt.

We stopped off in Kaunas to see the castle, wandered the town square then made our way on to the largest open air museum in Europe - the Lithuanian Folk museum. Unfortunately, one of the places we did not get the most out of. Many of the exhibits were shut down for the season - buildings closed - and there was very little contextual information given for what we were seeing. But we had a nice walk. On the other hand, we thought Kernavė was intriguing. Thought to have been the spot where Mindaugas (responsible for uniting Lithuania for the first time) celebrated his coronation in 1253, this cultural reserve comprises four old castle mounds and the remains of a medieval town.

Castle mounds at Kernavė - impressive Unesco site

Trakai Island Castle - we arrived at sunset and enjoyed the view from a disance.

A little bit tired of trying to decipher history for ourselves, we were happy to hit Vilnius for, yes you guessed it, two more free walking tours. Our guide was Ugnė, fabulous at showing us both the hidden corners and the main historic and cultural sites of the city, all the while making it interesting and entertaining for our tired brains.

Vilnius, more fabulous architecture

A walk through Užupis, an artist enclave and self declared free republic in Vilnius. It reminded us of Christiana in Copenhagen.

Churches everywhere

Vilnius free walking tours with our guide Ugnė
Typically international group: Bolivia, Ukraine, China, Italy, Israel, England, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland.

Lithuanian version of “and you get nothing”

Old wooden house district in Vilnius, Žvėrynas - a diverse historical neighborhood tucked in between skyscrapers

And a final goodbye to Vilnius as we leave the city gates. Time to leave the Schengen area, Romania here we come!

If you’d like to read more about us we’re at www.roguewanderers.com or on Instagram at 2roguewanderers

 

[tacototheworld]

Romania - part I

Romania, beautiful and wild, land of castles and mountains and, of course, Dracula. Just the name Transylvania evokes mystery and danger. Romania held plenty of mystery but no danger for us. The people were warm and helpful. Just as the trolls in Norway evaded us, so did the Romanian vampires. Some countries just fill your heart immediately and Romania did that for us. It hit all the right notes, with stunning medieval architecture, expansive mountain ranges and rural villages.
We enjoyed the challenges of travelling in a country which was slighly more complicated for tourists. Logistics were a little harder to figure out. Outside of the main tourist areas we had a language barrier as our Romanian is limited to “Hello,” “Thank you” and “Water” and many people did not speak English. Finding hikes was more difficult as online information was much more scarce. Once on the ground in a national park or reserve, trails were well blazed but knowing where they went or which trails to tackle was a challenge. We were arriving after tourist season so many information offices were closed. We discovered that our Garmin Overland’s estimated driving time to destinations was based on a high degree of optimism and a lack of information on road closures. Most two hour journeys turned into three or four hour ones as long swaths of the highways were closed and traffic redirected through small town main streets. But the extra effort required to navigate our activities was more than worth it as we stumbled upon beautiful solitary camping spots and adventurous hikes to destinations unknown.

Our route for three weeks in Romania

Our second night we headed into the Apuseni Mountains. We found a great isolated place to camp up a steep four wheel drive road and went hiking and cave exploring.

Throughout Romania, we enjoyed running into shepherds with their dogs and sheep -on roads, on hikes, in the most unexpected places. It made us wander about these solitary roamers and their thoughts but with the language barrier we were limited to smiles and waves.


We heard that according to most Romanians, Corvin’s Castle in Hunedoara is the best castle in Transylvania. It lived up to it’s reputation - gorgeous turrets with steepled rooves, beautifully renovated.

On our way in we met a friendly group of Spanish overlanders touring Romania with Vali from Adventure Romania. Vali was super helpful later in our trip.


Driving out of Hunedoara on our way to to go Hațeg to Retezat National Park, we happened by this neighborhood of fantastic houses. Some quick Googling and we found out that they were Roma houses.

Ping ponging back from the mountains to city life, as we do, our next stop was Turda to visit the old salt mine and hike in the gorge.

And an underground lake and playground at the bottom of the mine!


Then it was big city time. We headed to Cluj-Napoca to take care of some business (laundry, more food) and explore Romania’s urban culture.
A word about driving in Romania! The roads are great, but can be narrow and populated by fast cars, trucks and farm carts pulled by horses. Passing is an art form and people do not have the same safety margins that we are used to when it comes to blind passes on steep curvy roads. But it all seems to work out, drivers are speedy and full of courage. Walkers, horse riders, horse carts and bicycles all share the road with a high degree of faith.

Horse drawn carts common on rural roads in Romania


The painted monasteries were incredible, covered in frescos from the 15th and 16th century. You could feel the deep faith, endurance and hope coming through the depicted images and stories. We originally set out to visit all eight, but in the end made it to six. Beautiful as they were, there was a saturation point for us.

Sucevita Painted Monastery

The churches varied in the levels of preservation of the frescos. They are predominantly protected by the huge overhanging eves. Most of them are now UNESCO sites.

After leaving Bucovina, we made a side trip to the small country of Moldova, entering and leaving from the eastern side of Romania, (the province of Moldovia.) We wrote a separate blog post on that week. After we re-entered Romania, we continued our way west


Time for more castles! We had mistakenly bought into the marketing and reputation of Bran Castle as the inspiration for Dracula’s castle. In fact, it’s not even a place associated with Vlad the Impaler, Dracula’s inspiration. But it was still worth a visit, despite having to run the gauntlet of Dracula inspired souvenier booths along the way.

Caught the beautiful evening light on Bran Castle

Continuing the castle tour, we made our way to Sinaia, with a gorgeous setting in Transylvania mountain country. Our intention was to visit , Peleș Castle, built as a summer home for King Carol I, the first of four Romanian monarchs as Romania became an independent country separate from Hungary or Turkey. (One of our history guides told us that when King Carol I arrived from Germany to be the king, he was not pleased with the prosaic eight room house that he was offered for his residence.) The castle was built from 1874-1914. The first day, we accidentally went to Pelișor Castle, or Peles Palace, which was built later for King Ferdinand and Queen Marie (the second of the Romanian monarchs.) The two castles share a wooded park on a hill.

Peleș Castle

We were so glad we returned! Peleș Castle was one of the most incredible interiors we have ever seen. It was built in a Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival similar to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. Over 170 rooms are decorated with ornate woodwork, paintings, fabrics and exquisite furniture. No pictures of the interior, we were too cheap to pay the photography fee.


We left the craggy mountains to begin our next travel theme: fortified churches. Built during the time when Transylvania was inhabited by the Saxons, these churches doubled as fortresses to protect village inhabitants from the invaders of the day. Usually the Ottomans.

Prejmer Fortified Church, UNESCO site, largest fortified church in Eastern Europe, built by the Teutonic Knights in 1212

Part II next!

 

[goldtooth]

Loving this report! Nice work
nate

 

[alanymarce]

Great trip - keep having fun!

I realise that your planned route is going to be flexible, however I have to wonder why you plan on missing much of Australia. No Queensland, no Tasmania, hardly any of NSW. So much to enjoy!

re CdP: Perhaps not needed in many places, but a CdP does give you better protection if the vehicle is stolen or written off somewhere - obviously we all hope this doesn't arise. Check also the requirements for every country - some, like RSA, don't need a CdP if arriving overland, but do if you ship in. We’ve had a CdP for all of our “big trips” as well as on shorter trips in some places.

Keep posting your stories please - they’re really helpful; for example, we plan to be in Romania and potentially Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania later this year and your posts help us in terms of inspiring places to go.

 

[tacototheworld]

Yes we do have a big gap along Australia’s east coast. We were lucky enough to have spent a month there previously driving from Cairns in far North Queensland to Victoria in New South Wales as well as a wonder ful week in Tasmania.

Definitely flexibility is the key as we initially were going to bypass Iceland and New Zealand due to the shipping expense but are now going to ship our truck to Iceland this June as it would cost nearly the same to ship/camp versus rent/hotel.

interesting info about the carnet, I didn’t know it provided some theft insurance. What there one particular insurer that you liked the most? Or does it vary by country/area?

im happy that you like our posting! Romania was the one country out of 16 or so that we visited last year that most exceeded our expectations. I’ll try to post part II of Romania very soon, Wi-Fi permitting

 

[Tucsontom]

Your photos are very enjoyable and informative and fun!

 

[alanymarce]

Yes we do have a big gap along Australia’s east coast. We were lucky enough to have spent a month there previously driving from Cairns in far North Queensland to Victoria in New South Wales as well as a wonder ful week in Tasmania.

Definitely flexibility is the key as we initially were going to bypass Iceland and New Zealand due to the shipping expense but are now going to ship our truck to Iceland this June as it would cost nearly the same to ship/camp versus rent/hotel.

interesting info about the carnet, I didn’t know it provided some theft insurance. What there one particular insurer that you liked the most? Or does it vary by country/area?

im happy that you like our posting! Romania was the one country out of 16 or so that we visited last year that most exceeded our expectations. I’ll try to post part II of Romania very soon, Wi-Fi permitting

Now your Australian gap makes more sense.

re Iceland - we chose to rent a 4x4 with RTT and this worked well from the economics point of view. Shipping our vehicle would have been crazy (although that's not to say that we aren't).

We've taken out carnets from the RAC when they still did this. CARS when the RAC stopped, and ACC (Automovil Club de Colombia). IN all cases the only option for us would have been either ADAC or the Swiss Auto Club, and the local option (where the vehicle is registered) made more sense.

I look forward to part 2 for Romania!

 

[Sierra Valley]

I sure enjoy your guys travels!

 

[tacototheworld]

Romania - Part II

Harman Fortified Church - another UNESCO site, built in the 13th century by Saxon settlers

Feeling full of ancient thistory, we set off to the second biggest city in Transylvania, Brașov, known for its medieval Saxon walls, old town and beautiful mountain backdrop. We really enjoyed Brașov. It had a great mix of modern and medieval architecture. With no free walking tours in the off season, we picked up our own map and started walking around the city highlights.

Streets of old town and Brașov city name on the hill

Rope Street - claiming to be the narrowest street in Europe? But we hear there are contenders . . . It’s a competition

Sampling street food -our favorite, a tubular cake with a crunchy caramel outside. Although for Dawn, Covrigi are up there too (sesame encrusted pretzel like bread.)


More of challenges of life on the road, ordering US specific stuff! Discovered the Romanian version of Amazon: Emag. Had a US to European electrical adapter shipped to a lock box in two days for $4. Back to being able to charge the laptop and hook to shore power if needed (our old adaptor broke).

Tucked in the shadow of the skyscrapers, wild camping five minutes from downtown Brașov, sometimes you sacrifice scenic beautry for convenience

We left Brașov full of food and culture, re-supplied with water, propane, gas and groceries and went back to fortified churches. Next stop on the highlight tour: Viscri.

Viscri Fortified Church, built by the Saxons in the 13th century. Roman Catholic when it was built when the area was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, later became Lutheran after the Reformation.

The final stops on our Transylvanian tour were the two beautiful Saxon towns, Sighișoara and Sibiu. Both were originally founded during the 12th century. At the time, Romania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the King of Hungary invited German craftsman and merchants to Transylvania to settle and defend the frontier of his realm. Romania has had a complicated history of the people being invaded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the west, Russia to the east and the Ottoman Empire to the south. Independence began in 1878 with the beginning of the reign of the four monarchs followed by the country’s shift to Communism. The general consensus among the Romanians we have talked to was that governance by monarchs was a better situation for the country than being ruled by a Communist dictator.

Medieval entry gate into old town Sighișoara

Cobbled old town streets of Sighișoara

On the drive from Sighișoara to Sibiu we stopped at our last fortified church in Biertan.

Biertan Fortified Church, also built by the Saxons

Into the woods for another free night thanks to the Park4night app


And then on to Sibiu. Another beautiful Transylvanian city blending the old and the new. Color and character everywhere.

Unique blend of architecture

Streets of old town Sibiu

Before finishing our Romania tour in Bucharest, we headed into the mountains one more time for some wild camping and to drive the famous Transfăgărășan road, named Top Gears world’s best road. Unfortunately, the tunnel portion was closed for the winter, but we were able to drive up to the tunnel on each side and get a sense of the ingenious engineering that went into building the route. Wish we had a sports car!

Transfăgărășan, the truck is there, just very very tiny

On our approach, just before we left the tree line we saw this beautiful bear peering out at us.

Arriving in Bucharest from the colorful mountains and towns of Transylvania was an adjustment. Our largest city in months, we were plunged into sensory overload. Of all the places we had been in Romania, the imprint of the Soviet style architecture built under the leadership of former Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu felt the most evident here. We did a fabulous free walking tour with a guide who described the transitions from the monarchies to Communism and the subsequent corruption and economic consequences for the people of Romania.

Downtown Bucharest

We found a great apartment just south of the city center for $39 a night on Airbnb. We pretty much ran the little washing machine the whole time we were there - deep cleaning the truck and maintenance.

Still plagued by an increasing sqeekiness in the truck springs, we reached out to Vali from Adventure Romania and he connected us to an off road mechanic. He quickly diagnosed that the nylon bushings between the individual leaf springs had deteriorated and needed to be replaced. He was able to temporarily grease and separate it for us and Andy is reaching out to Deaver springs for new parts.

Andy with Vali from Adventure Romania. Vali finds his bliss leading overlanding trips in the mountains of Romania. He advised us along the way, telling us about a great camping spot and connecting us to the right mechanic. If you are looking for a guided trip in Romania, reach out to Vali!

At times the city felt very grey. It was also experiencing a resurgence of COVID so people were heavily masked and quickly getting about their business. Likely we did eventually found our rhythm here and there was more to appreciate, but it was hard to overlook the crumbling decay and extensive graffiti.

Beatuiful old church in old town next to crumbling apartment buildings

Beautiful old white house next to Soviet style apartment buildings

More graffiti than we have ever seen

But there was a heart to old town where buildings had been preserved, and majestic statue lined throughways and plazas.

Old town


Dubbed “the Paris of the east,” you can see why Bucharest was given this name in the old town area of Bucharest where the architecture is preserved and beautiful.

Now a short side trip to Moldova

 

[tacototheworld]

Moldova

Manastirea Curchi, built in the 1800’s, survived Soviet era as a psychiatric hospital, now returned to a monastery.

Moldova is a place of contrasts. Most of the small country is covered in rolling agricultural hills covered in wheat, corn and potatos. Often billed as the “least visited” or “the poorest” country in Europe, it is also home to designer winery industry catering to international tourists. The capital, Chișinău sits in the middle of the country and is a curious blend of Soviet block concrete architecture alongside older gothic architecture and beautiful green spaces.

Moldova was our most rigorous border crossing to date and were grateful to have our paperwork in order. The key necessities other than passports:

• International Driving Permits (we secured ours from a AAA office before we left the US)
• Original copy of the truck title (we were travelling with ours as it was required for shipping). US Registration card was not sufficient.
• COVID 19 vaccination proof - our cards from the US were acceptable
• Purchase of Moldova freeway toll pass - called a vignette (about $22)
  The vehicle was lightly inspected and we were questioned about our travel plans and then free to enter.
  
  

Our route in Moldova - entering from and returning to Romania


Our first stop was the capital. More contrasts, some parts modern and sleek, some older European architecture, but also evidence of a troubled past with aging and crumbling infrastructure.

Blended disrepair

We enjoyed our rambles in Chișinău, the tourism office was closed but we were able to access a map of highlights on GPSMyCity and set off to explore.

Triumphal Arch, or Holy Gate, built in 1846 to commemorate the Russian victory over the Turkish.

Statue of Ștefan cel Mare or Stephen the Great, a very big deal, ruler of Moldova in the 1400’s, he is credited with defeating the Ottoman invaders and many say the best ruler the country has had.

Nativity of Christ Cathedral, built in 1830

Wild camping was easy in Moldova. Although not explicity allowed it is also not forbidden. We found many areas in forests, by lakes and rivers and on top of hills that were easy to access and obviously used as wild camping spots.

Wild camping, Moldovan hilltop

Driving in Moldova was less crazy than in Romania. Drivers generally stuck to the speed limit and were not so compelled to pass on blind curves. Roads were smaller and would turn to gravel unexpectedly (for us) but it was all manageable. Our Garmin Overland challenged us a few times by selecting one lane gravel paths with meteor sized potholes through villages as “short cuts,” so we quickly learned to stick to the bigger roads.
The real reason we came was to check out the wines and the wineries (at least, for Dawn). Tourism has been down due to the pandemic and we were past the high season so we enjoyed empty wineries and small tours. We were unusual in that we were driving ourselves from winery to winery as opposed to coming with an organized tour, but it was simple to do. It is easy to either book a single winery tour in English on individual websites, or to call ahead and make arrangements. Tours and tastings typically ranged in cost from $10 to $30 depending on what you wanted to do and if you included a meal.
We chose three wineries, and had a great variety. Our first stop was Cricova Cellars, the largest Moldovan winery and famous for 100km of underground tunnels (formerly a limestone mine) which have been converted to wine cellars. For $10 each we received a 90 minute tour of the cellars by electric car and a glass of sparking wine.

Riding in an electric car through Cricova’s underground tunnels

Cricova’s sparkling wine bottling line, checking for sediment

500,000 bottles of sparkling wine being hand turned regularly

Our next stop was Chateau Vartely, a much smaller operation than Criscova. We called to see if we could visit and were told just to stop by and we would be given a tour. This was our favorite tour and best value. For $10 each, we received a private tour of the production facility, and a wine tasting with two wines (and snacks!) and were given the remainder of the two bottles we tasted.

Chateau Vartely

Bonus lIght show on the wine barrels

Anastasia, our tour guide extraordinaire

The final winery we visited was Castel Mimi, a winery founded by Constantin Mimi in the late 1800’s. For $15 each we joined a group tour of the cellars and tasted two wines. This tour focused more on the history of the winery and less on the production process but was still interesting.

Original estate building at Castel Mimi

Wine cellars at Castel Mimi

Because we couldn’t quite make it all about the wine, we interspersed our winery visits with visiting some of the oldest monasteries in Moldova.

Mănăstirea Curchi, in Curchi, Moldova, one of the most beautiful monasteries we have visited

Saharna Monastery, Saharna Moldova, built into a cliff

At Saharna we connected with a friendly group of Moldovans who were fascinated with our trip and how we were managing it.

Moldovan public well

Basic supplies were all readily available in Moldova. Propane could be refilled at most gas stations. Public wells were common. We ran the water through our UV system just in case our stomachs weren’t immune to whatever microbes could be present. We did make one mistake, having been so used to using credit cards for everything, we had forgotten to check if visa was accepted at a small village gas station. We filled the tank, pulled out the card and were told it was a cash only station. Oops, we left the truck with the proprietor and walked a mile to the nearest ATM. No problem.
Our last day in Moldova was an interesting one. We decided to drive a different route back down south to the capital from our monastery visit up north. We ran into a series of police roadblocks that we were waved through, then hit a major barrier with guards. It turns out we were attempting to drive through Transnistria, a separatist enclave within Moldova that is aligned with Russia. The guards were friendly and their English was marginally better than our Russian but we understood “nyet” and the hand signals that suggested we were better off not driving through so we turned away.
Moldova was worth the visit - especially for the wineries. Outside of the wine industry, the tourism is not well developed and English speakers are rare but everyone was engaging and worked with us to try to build understanding.
We left Moldova to return to Romania. Interesting for us that it felt like we were returning somewhere familiar, despite only having been in Romania for a short time. We were looking forward to Transylvania, more castles, saxon villages and mountains.

 

[tacototheworld]

Bulgaria

Kaleto Fortress, Belogradchik, Bulgaria

Bulgaria has been another engaging surprise for us and a continuing sobering lesson in how little we know about the world, cultures and specifically the challenges and history of the Eastern European people.
Bulgaria has natural beauty, discrete wild camping, thousands of years of history and ruins, gorgeous mountains, caves, fascinating geology and unlimited hiking.

Compared with other Eastern European countries, the relationship with Soviet era Communisim feels more complicated in Bulgaria. The country is still working through a political transformation and debating its leadership ideology. But we were universally treated with kindness, interest and surprise that two US citizens would choose to come and spend time driving through this beautiful country. Knowledge of English was less than in any other European country we had visited but there was always patience with our sign language and the use of our Google translate program.

Our two week route through Bulgaria. Despite having heard great things about Varna and the Baltic Coat, we did not make it that far west, it was cold everywhere so we focused on the inland and mountains.

In general, wild camping was easy in Bulgaria, we never paid for a campground. But most of the time we felt a little like we were hiding ourselves away. Although not officially allowed, if you use common sense, people are tolerant of campers who stay away from homes and public sites. We used Park4Night and never had an issue.
Driving felt much saner in Bulgaria, people tended to stick to the speed limits. Likely in part due to the abundance of speed traps with local police stationed with radar guns at the entrance to towns and villages to enforce the slowdowns - you’ve been warned!!

Cherven fortress, remains of a 6th century hill top city

In our “Bulgarian history for dummies” learning, we starting wrapping our brains around the series of events from the Thracian tribes inhabiting the region, to the Macedonian takeover, the Roman invasion, the arrival of the Bulgars who brokered peace with the surrounding Slavic tribes and created the first Bulgarian empire, to the Ottoman invasion, the hard re-won independence and the on and off again alliance with the Soviet Union which spanned two world wars and is still a factor in modern politics.

As west coast Americans with basically no historical infrastructure to visit back home, ancient ruins never get old so we made our way to some Roman ones.

Nicopolis-ad-Istrum, remains of a Roman city originally built in AD 110

Then back to fortresses and ruins, and the beautiful historic town of Veliko Tarnovo.

Wandering the streets of Veliko Tărnovo

After exploring the town we headed to the main attraction, the restored Tsarevets Fortress, a citadel of the second Bulgarian empire (after the Russians helped the Bulgarians beat back the Turkish and regain independence in the late 18th century). The fortress was built, sacked and rebult for centuries starting somewhere around the 5th century.

Tsarevets Fortress, Veliko Tărnovo

One of our favorite wild camping spots, a hilltop along Troyan Pass in the Balkan Mountains

We drove out of our way to visit the famous National Revival architecture town of of Koprivshitsa and it was definitely worth it. The painted homes of the 1800’s were beautiful and unique. Our understanding of the National Revival period is that Bulgarian citizens were working to establish their identity while fighting the Ottomans to regain independence.
Flipping between centuries, our next stop was the town of Hisarya, known as a spa town with healing properties, we did not partake of those amenities, but had a great day wandering the Roman ruins

Remains of Roman city walls, Hisarya

Driving through the eastern gate remains, yup, posing the truck again

We hit the second biggest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv, with no expectations at all since we had not even heard of it. What a great surprise! Roman ruins literally popping out of the streets, a walled old town, pedestrian shopping streets, and the Kapana district with its cafes and street art. It was a cultural party for the senses.

Roman ruins literally under the city

Dawn fell in love with $.35 vending machine cappuccinos. At that price its just a rounding error in the budget

Looking for some more outdoor adventures, we headed to the mountain town of Devin and then through the gorge to the village of Yagodina, jumping off point to the hike to Eagle Eye and a visit to Yagodina Cave.

Driving the gorge to Yagodina
Motoring on, eating up the gas (our biggest daily expense as we tend to stay on the move) our next stop on our wonderful Bugarian tour was Melnik. Two attractions: The Melnik Pyramids (actually rock formations) and wineries.

Views from the hike from the village of Melnik to the Rozhen Monastery

So many highlights in Bulgaria, but Rila was definitely one of them. We visited the intricately painted Rila Monastery and tackled the famous Seven Rila Lake hike in Rila National Park.

Rila Monastery Courtyard

Frescos, Rila Monastery

Gorgeous hike, 360’ views at every turn, it was a spectacular day.

Seven Rila Lakes Hike

Our final city stop in Bulgaria - Sofia. Unlike many other European cities, Sofia does not have an “old town,” but the old is mixed in with the new. Unpretentious and cosmopolitan at the same time, we enjoyed rambling around Sofia. And of course, our free walking tour. We also booked a tour on the Communist history, run by the same company. Two learnings we were asked to spread the word on (actually mentioned by several tour guides): 1) Bulgaria refused to and successfully evaded evacuating or killing any of their Jewish citizens during WWII despite initially siding with Nazi Germany 2) the Cyrillic alphabet was actually developed in Bulgaria by Bulgarians.

Rotunda Church of St. George, 4th Century, Sofia

On the way to Sofia, Andy had noticed that something was out of alignmenton the truck. We visited Stefan Pistronev at his replair shop in Sofia and he immediately took a look and figured out that a nut on one of the ends of the rear leaf springs was missing - yikes could have been catastrophic. He fixed us up for the day and we came back the next for an alignment - problem fixed.

Stefan Pistronev’s shop in Sofia at Queen Joanna Blvd 9 - he fixed us up quickly and professionally!

So, this will be it for a little while. We are heading back to Oregon for a bit. Leaving the truck with family in England.

 

[tacototheworld]

Costa Rica - Part I - San Jose to Pacific Coast - Manuel Antonio

Arenal Volcano - almost peering out of the clouds

Spoiler alert- no truck photos in this blog. We miss our home on wheels dearly but left it behind in England and came to Costa Rica for five weeks to wait out the cold UK winter before we return to camper life. So here we are, driving around in a tiny cheap rental car, doing our best to avoid four wheel drive roads and wet river crossings - at least until we return with the truck in the future.

Costa Rica is a spectacular landscape of lush rainforest, majestic volcanoes and endless sandy beaches. We wake up to the thrumming sounds of howler monkeys, chirping parrots and squawking scarlet macaws, gcrawling on the hotel walls. Staying nightly in hotels is an adjustment for us and we miss having our own space day to day.

Our driving route for the first 17 days. With a goal of seeing as much of the country as possible in 5 1/2 weeks, we kept moving (as we always seem to do)

San Jose
We flew into San Jose and spent a few days exploriing the city. We were suprised how walkable it was - we enjoyed exploring the lively downtown area filled with local shoppers surrounded by an eclectic mix of architecture.
As usual in a new city, we spend our first morning on the Free Walking Tour, learning about the history and culture of the city and country. The city is relatively new with much of it built in the 1960’s so you do not feel the sense of history that many other major cities have, but there is still plenty to catch your eye.

San Jose’s most famous building, the Teatro Nacional built in the late 19th century, financed by an export tax on coffee

New and old legislative

The lively Avenida Central - the main pedestrian shopping street

After a few days we felt saturated with city life, picked up our rental car and headed up to volcano country - about a three hour drive from San Jose.

Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal

Andy’s big tree photo - La Ceiba, on one of our Parque Nacional Arenal hikes

Parque Nacional Arenal was gorgeous - even though the majestic peak of Arenal did not want to peer out of the fog for us. We paid our park fee ($15/person) and took advantage of the beautiful trails in the park, hiking about 6 miles.

Many of the hikes in the area were in privately held business ventures. Throughout Costa Rica we noticed this as a theme. We found that most of the national parks were beautiful and huge but had limited developed trails, typically they could be explored in a day (with some notable exceptions, Corcovada, Chirripo and a few others). Camp grounds are run privately.

Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio
Two hours farther north, we headed into our next volcano park. The famed blue waters of the Rio Celeste did not disappoint. We paid our $15/person fee, declined the help of a guide and hiked the four miles of trails to the waterfall and hot pools - mountain views made a gorgeous backdrop.

Cabinas Piuri, close to the park in a garden like setting. Great value at $30 a night, rooms starting to see a few construction problems but it was a deal and the location was perfect for us.

This car really not as good a model as our Tacoma

Monteverde

We chose to drive the three hour scenic lakeside scenic route through Rio Chiquita which definitely put our little car to the test. We bumped our way along and the views made up for the scary moments about whether or not our car was actually going to make it up the mountainous roads.

Similar to La Fortuna, Monteverde is set up for tourists. Easily walkable with restaurants, hotels and tour agencies galore. Every adventure you might want at your fingertips - from ziplining to rafting to wildlife encounters.

Our first adventure - a night walk in the jungle. For $25 each we signed up with Santamaria Nightwalks for a three hour exploration by flashlight. Our guide was fabulous.

Green viper hanging out next to our trail

The trails at Santa Elena felt more like a deep, wet cloud forest. We also appreciated the lack of people - very different than the more popular and sometimes crowded Monteverde Reserve.

Swinging bridge at Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Monkeys galore but we didn’t get a good picture of them

So our other favorite activity alongside hiking, is eating. The area is known for chocolate, so we headed off to a chocolate tour ($18 each for what ended up being a private tour). We spent three enthralling hours with Chocolate Bob at Cabure Chocolatea passionate and dedicated connoisseur of making pure chocolate of the richest variety. We received a deep dive into the whole process - from the complicated sourcing the dried and fermented beans (apparently there is no formalized standards or unity across farmers for how to do this so quality is frustratingly uneven) to the roasting, shucking and grinding that results in the pure chocolate liquer.

Grinding the cacao beans

To the Pacific Coast
Well, by now we had been in Costa Rica for over a week and hadn’t seen the ocean. Time to fix that. We got back in our car and made our way four hours over to the northern Pacific coast - Playa Tamarindo.

Playa Tamarindo

Playa Tamarindo was not our favorite town - the beach was lovely but it was a backdrop to bustling main street filled with tourist shoppers, bars and we saw no evidence of actual Costa Ricans living there. But we are not surfers and for those with the passion for the waves everything else is likely irrelevant. We were also only there for one day so are absolutely willing to accept that we may have missed the hidden charms.

Although the photo doesnt do it justice (we backed into the photo after cruising through the water), unexpected river crossings created drama for us in our urban rental


Santa Teresa was bustling, full of interesting restaurants but still didn’t seem as mainstream commercial as Playa Tamarindo. It had a lively mainstreet where ATV’s, scooters and motorbikes battled with pedestrians, buses and trucks. Gorgeous beaches lined the coast. We were drawn to the atmosphere of the area.

Sideways surfboard on scooter, almost wiped out unwitting pedestrians

Dawn’s “art” shot with the shadows of the two of us on the bridge looking down at the crocs at crocodile bridge

Parque Manuel Antonio

Our final stop on this blog installment, the most famous and visited national park in Costa Rica. For good reasons! Beautiful beaches and trails and tons of wildlife.

Our host Esteban at Villas Jacquelinas set us up with a guide, one of two times in Costa Rica we would make this investment. Twenty minutes into the hike Roger had shown us at least five animals we would never have seen on our own. Cost was $50 each for a two hour walking tour and included park entrance.

Capuchin monkeys put on a show


That’s it for this blog! Part two coming up, heading down to Corcovado National Park, then through mountainous central Costa Rica and up the Caribeean coast. Thank you for reading. We know are travel style is not for everyone, we never stay anywhere more than two nights and “relax” is not in our vocabulary but if you are planning a visit, hopefully this gives you some ideas.

 

[tacototheworld]

Costa Rica Part II - Uvita to Corcovado and Caribbean Coast

The adventure continues! We are relaxing into Costa Rican life, appreciating this country with its people, easy access to fantastic wildlife viewing and effortless travel. Our daily organizing principles are where are we going to sleep cheaply, what version of rice and beans are we going to eat and where will we do our minimum 5 mile walk? Luckily, hikes here are plentiful and gorgeous, from paid ones in nature reserves and national parks to boundless stretches of empty white sandy beaches.

The Costa Rican people we have met are hard working, family oriented, practical and welcoming. The country is immaculate, you never see garbage on trails or by the road. It is among the cleanest places we have ever travelled. Even the most budget accommodations are usually clean and people take Pura Vida seriously on many levels.

It is an easy place to travel with a highly developed tourism infrastructure, you are never far from a wildlife reserve, a tour opportunity or a restaurant. Our Spanish is limited but we always try and are greeted by smiles and patience as we hack our way through mixed tenses and broken grammar.

We invested in a rental car and self driving in Costa Rica has felt safe. If you stick to the main roads, they are narrow but well built. There are lots of scooters and trucks to watch out for and passing is a game, but people are good drivers and courteous. Off the main highway system, you never quite know what you are going to find but our basic rental car has whined its way up every gravel mountain road we have attempted.

Security has not been an issue for us, despite being warned by locals about the hazards, in particular leaving anything in a car at a beach or trailhead. To the extent possible, we have left everything in our hotels when we ventured out or if our bags are in the trunk parked in a populated area and have not had a problem. We have always felt safe leaving our things in the hotels, even travelling at the budget end as we have. We also did not drive at night and tried not to walk in empty areas - even beaches - at night.

Our driving route for the second part of our trip - 25 days


Uvita

After leaving Manuel Antonio (covered in the Costa Rica Part I Blog) we continued our way south along the Pacific coast. We were happy to be here during the dry season, but it was still humid. And hot.

Our next stop was Uvita to visit the Parque Nacional Marina Ballena. Even though it was not whale season, it was a beautiful stretch of coastline to explore. Uvita itself stretched along from the highway to the park, easy to find reasonable accommodations and a surprising number of non Costa Rican restaurants (New York pizza, bagels, sushi . . ). We stayed at the Hotel el Tucan, in a basic room with a kitchenette for $40, surrounded by Costa Rican families celebrating school holidays, a festive time.


Peninsula de Osa - Rincon, Drake Bay, Puerto Jimenez

Our outdated guidebook (we use Lonely Planets but had an old version) let us know that the road to Drake Bay was only accessible with four wheel drive. We decided to explore the route anyway and just see how far we could get. We were thrilled to find that the road had been graded and bridges built over the water crossings so we made it all the way.

We had a fantastic day exploring the scenic beaches and hiking around the point. Drake Bay still felt remote and a little wild. Most people seemed to get around on scooters. Tourists mixed with locals in the small dusty downtown and the atmosphere was upbeat and lively.

Final Drake Bay beach photo - it was one of our favorites. “I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”


Parque Nacional Corcovado

Like many others, we were there to visit Corcovado. For us, this was the absolute jewel of Costa Rican parks. We made a steep investment on a three day guided trip (you cannot enter the park without a guide) and it was worth every penny. We went with Surcos Tours at $500 each, including two nights accommodation in the park and all meals. Our guide, Oscar was a self taught wildlife expert who showed us more than we ever expected to see. In his past careers he had been a banana planter, a hotel worker and a furniture maker. He carefully curated an experience that met all of our desires (tapirs, sloths, frogs and much more).

we immediately settled into the daily routine, 5 AM wildlife walk, return to station for breakfast, wildlife walk, return for lunch and siesta, then final wildlife walk then dinner and lights out at 8pm. The food was excellent and the international company of guests and guides formed instant camaraderie, sharing stories of sloth and tapir sightings.

Below are photos of some of the highlights:

Squirrel monkey - fast and active

Tapir - we magically watched a mom and baby come down to the water to drink.

So many sloths!


Cloudbridge Nature Reserve

After a final night in Puerto Jimenez, we set off for the Caribbean coast, crossing the country by Parque Nacional Chirripo. We opted not to take on the 12k climb of Chirripo, but stayed in a hostel nearby to explore the area. We had booked two nights at Hostel Casa Chirripo and this was the first place we bailed on. The roof was leaking, the toilet was leaking, the room smelled slightly, the bedding was frightful and the internet only allowed email access. Even for budget accommodations at $33 for the two of us it didn’t hit our minimum bar. We spent one night and fled.


Pacuare River

As experienced river rafters with our own whitewater raft, we were hesitant about investing in a group guided tour down the Pacuare River ($75 per person including lunch), but in the end decided to do it and were glad we did! It was gorgeous river canyon and even at low water was splashy and fun with a couple of Class IV rapids. We opted to stay on the river at Pacuare River lodge and raft our way out. The lodge was super, a beautiful location, with one night’s accommodation, all food included (lunch on arrival, dinner then breakfast the next day) for $37 a person. The bungalows were simple but the location was superb.

Rope drawn carriage to cross the river


Southern Caribbean Coast - Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, Playa Cocles

Jaguar Rescue Center

Set back from the main road in Playa Cocles is this incredible non profit which rescues, rehabilitates, and when possible releases animals. We had a terrific two hour tour ($15 each) which included our most intimate sloth viewings and a wealth of educational information.

A resident sloth with medical issues being lovingly cared for


Parque Nacional Cahuita

We had an unexpectedly fantastic day at this smaller unassuming national park that was in walking distance to our Cahuita hotel. We hiked the main trail from the Cahuita side, 8 miles total out and back. Wildlife watching and the views were spectacular.

This one trying to convince us to ignore the sign. We didn’t.
Tortuguero

For our last Costa Rican adventure we made our way to Tortuguero on the northern Caribbean coast. Famous for turtle life, we were hopeful that we would be able to see turtles nesting on the beach. Even though we were in the early season for the green leatherback, once we arrived we were told that it is actually really rare to see them this early in the season. No worries, the town and the national park still had much to offer.

The journey is not simple, requiring a long drive, a boat ride up a narrow canal and then a busy river to the town of Tortuguero. Information was a little hard to find online, but we were able to confirm with our hotel the boat times and made our way to Pavona, a remote parking area where the boats brought people and goods to and from Tortuguero.

Boat terminal at Tortuguero

Well, six weeks in Costa Rica and we are sad to leave but looking forward to seeing family in Bend Oregon. Safe travels to everyone out there and thank you for reading!

 

[Expendable]

Wow. What a trip. Thanks for sharing. I definitely want to go on a multi week expedition down the road. Hope you enjoy the rest of yours!